Friday, April 8, 2011

Compound 1080 Must Be Banned

The EPA is reconsidering the use of an inhumane poison that has caused thousands of horrifically painful wildlife deaths

[Editor's note: T.S. Eliot's famous 1922 poem "The Waste Land" begins with the phrase, "April is the cruellest month." But for so many non-human animals suffering at the hands of humans around the world, every month in the cruellest. 13.7 Billion Years takes Eliot's famous line as the theme for April, which is "Animal Cruelty Month." For many, it is not an easy topic to digest. But if Homo sapiens is to truly evolve, it must be dealt with now -- and vigorously.]

"After traveling more than 1,000 miles from her Montana home, a female wolf from the Mill Creek pack (known as 314F), met a horrific fate in Colorado -- illegally poisoned by the deadly Compound 1080," according to the non-profit Defenders of Wildlife.

"Plagued with convulsions, dizziness and unbearable pain, her journey ended in a terrible death on a lonely Colorado road."

It is a sad and all-too-common story. Thousands of coyotes are killed each year due to Compound 1080 (Sodium fluoroacetate) and sodium cyanide, toxins that Humane Society of the United States president and CEO Wayne Pacelle says, "simply must be eliminated."

Currently used to kill coyotes in nine states, Compound 1080 also kills non-target species like protected endangered wolves, foxes, wild dogs and even pet dogs. It is so lethal that it is classified as a chemical weapon in several nations. But the EPA approved the use of Compound 1080 in 1985.

Following a 2007 study by Australia's RSPCA that found Compound 1080 to be an "inhumane poison," RSPCA's Dr. Miranda Sherley said, "We were concerned to further investigate what level of pain and suffering was caused by 1080 on any vertebrate animal, including the target animals -- which, we should remember, are also very much able to experience pain and suffering and deserve no less compassion in the way we deal with them."

Now, after years of campaigns to ban these lethal metabolic poisons, the EPA is reconsidering their use.

As of Wednesday, Defenders of Wildlife submitted 41,106 signatures from concerned citizens to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, urging her to ban the use of Compound 1080 and sodium cyanide to prevent the poisoning of wildlife.

GET INVOLVED

Sign a Defenders of Wildlife petition urging the EPA to ban the use of Compound 1080 and sodium cyanide to prevent the poisoning of wildlife struggling to survive (signature goal = 50,000)

Thanks to those who signed Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) petitions to end animal use in pediatrics training, the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio no longer uses and kills rabbits and ferrets to train its pediatrics residents. (PCRM)